Quick Start Guides: Signing up

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For Individuals and Families:

Covered California offers information about prices and benefits written in simple language. You get a clear picture of what premiums you'd pay and what benefits and protections you'd get before you enroll. Compare plans based on what's important to you, and choose the combination of price and coverage that fits your needs and budget.

When you use Covered California, you'll fill out an application and find out if you can get lower costs on your monthly premiums for private insurance plans. You'll find out if you qualify for lower out-of-pocket costs.

Covered California will also tell you if you qualify for free or low-cost coverage available through Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

With one application, you can see all of your insurance options and enroll.  You can apply online, by mail, or in-person.

For Small Businesses:

The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) is a new program that simplifies the process of buying health insurance for your small business.

With one online application, on your own or with the help of an agent, broker, or other assister, you can compare price, coverage, and quality of plans in a way that's easy to understand.  For 2014, the SHOP Marketplace is open to employers with 50 or fewer full-time-eqivalent employees (FTEs).

Covered California will tell you if you qualify for a small business health care tax credit worth up to 50% of your premium costs. You can still deduct from your taxes the rest of your premium costs not covered by the tax credit. Beginning 2014 the tax credit is available only for plans purchased through SHOP.

Open enrollment for 2015 health insurance plans through Covered California begins Nov. 15, 2014, and ends Feb. 15, 2015.

• Checklist of documents you will need to apply.

• Income levels that qualify for lower health coverage costs
  

Special Enrollments: qualified life changes like marriage, divorce, birth, death, job loss, or loss of COBRA

Open Enrollment will be available every year.

The Health Insurance Marketplace is a generic term for the provision of the ACA that requires an open, comptetitive market of insurers to serve each state.   Some states will institute their own Marketplace and in other states the Federal Govenment will provide the Marketplace.  The Health Insurance Marketplace for California is Covered California. The Health Insurance Marketplace is designed to make buying health coverage easier and more affordable.  Individuals and small business will be able to compare plans, ask questions, find out elibility for tax credits or health programs, and enroll in a health plan.

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These are research tools in addition to the ones provided by the government sites.